Astros will get a free pass all year long unless they don’t

My boss phoned the other day and asked if I was going to be mean or nice to the Astros this season. I didn’t know how to take that. Was he trying to pick a fight? Had he noticed I occasionally flip-flop on a team? Naturally, I put him in his place.

”Where do you buy your ties?” I asked. ”I never seen you wear a bad-looking tie.”

He said something about not wearing a tie, and how I would I know what his tie looked like since this was a telephone conversation?

Back to our conversation about the Astros. This is going to be a season-long mulligan. For one thing, there’s nothing to criticize them for. This season was a long time coming, but the Astros finally are making a tough, necessary transition into the next generation of players.

Ed Wade pointed out the other day that when a club goes down this road, there’s no way of knowing how it’s going to turn out. It’s probable some of these younger guys will turn into real good players. It’s also probable that some of them will be out of baseball in two years.

The Astros have a chance to be respectable. They appear to have decent starting pitching and a pretty good bullpen. Offensively, it’s impossible to know what they have.

If Brett Wallace and Jason Castro both hit .280, the offense could be decent. But there doesn’t seem to be enough power to stay in the race.

It’ll still be fun watching guys who have a chance to get better. The Astros played pretty well after that 17-34 start, and they’ve got a really good manager and a sensible plan for the future.

This is nothing like a couple of years ago when the manager was terrible and the front office kept tricking itself into thinking adding one more old guy would get them over the hump.

Now it’s about giving playing time to Castro, Wallace, etc., and about continuing to draft, sign and develop in the minors.

I don’t know about you, but I love a stress-free season. I’m already thinking about that first night in Kissimmee when Milo and I reserve a table for 10 and for some reason it’ll end up being just us.

I agree with most of what you said,but do we really need power to contend? This is no longer the steroid era. look at San Diego last season. They did not have much power and they won finnished a game out.

You Houston writers have it all figured out. You know going into the season the team’s not worth a crap. But, as with most bad teams, they go on a season ending above average streak once the games don’t mean anything. And you know you’ve got us again through the first half of the next season, based on last year’s promising play. Its Ground Hog Day all over again.

Would you say that Wade’s Off Season is virtually over? If not, I would like for him to look at some cheap fliers: Jeremy Bonderman (SP), Willy Aybar (1b, 2b, 3b), Scott Podsenik (OF) and Bengie Molina (C).

Jeremy Bonderman – could compete for the 5th spot. Plus give the Astros actually depth in the rotation, in case of trade.

Willy Aybar – the fact he can play 3b + moderate power, and the Astros don’t have anyone to back Chris, should have appeal for the team.

Podsenik – it would be nice to have some speed for the 4OF and defensive replacement. Plus give Carlos some extra rest, or time to play at 1b, if Wallace struggles.

Molina – probably would rather retire than help mentor Castro, but if the Astros are serious about Castro being their future, what about a future HOF help guide him? Plus Molina has power.

These four would give the Astros something they had not had in a long time, and that is depth. Are they great? No… But do they bring in certain intangibles? Yes, their wisdom for the Astros younger, upcoming players.

Mixing in veterans with young players is probably the best way to rebuild.

Your ideas on this?

[He’s at his payroll limit. He’s done. If there’s a minimum-salary guy out there, he might be able to talk Drayton into it, but I wouldn’t hold my breath.–Richard]

Honestly, I’m done with the Astros until we get a new owner/GM. Seriously, until Drayton actually says ‘adios’ I’m done. Until Ed Wade, who hasn’t even been a speck in the shadow of Gerry, until he’s gone, I’m done.

For too many years now, since the Series appearance, I’ve been told and held hope every year that we have a great team, that THIS year will be different. But it’s not. It’s just another year of high prices on parking/seats/food to watch team stink so bad it makes the grass wilt. I grew up loving my Astros, watching Glen Davis, Mike Scott, Jose Cruz, Nolan Ryan, Craig Biggio, Jeff Bagwell, and on and on. Those were names you could support, root for, and respect. Lately, all the names you tell us to root for at the beginning of each season end up being fairly worthless, and I’m tired of it. And it starts with the man who put a losing product on the field and then decided to spend LESS money the following year on payroll, practically ensuring mediocrity.

So until he’s actually gone, I’m done. There’s only so many teams I can be disappointed in, and the Texans and Rockets at least seem to be trying to put a decent product on the field (the Rox just have bad luck with long-term injuries, and the Texans…well, though I still have hope, I’m afraid Dallas’ leftovers are waiting in the wings to take the big job if Kubiak can’t perform next season, and THAT scares the hell out of me. Making Bum’s son head coach would be like making G.H.W. Bush’s son President – ludicrous and disasterous. Don’t let it happen…)

That’s a great take. But wait until May when all the crazies come out with their fantasy GM proposals. Right now, only the year round baseball fans are paying attention.

In hindsight, when the Stros made the move towards youth last year, I finally started watching again. It became entertaining with all the new names and faces? We’ll see. No expectations, just entertainment.

The 2011 Houston Astros might not make the playoffs, but i still think they have a legitimate chance to improve a bit from last year. It’s harder to make the playoffs in mlb than it is in the nba or nfl, i think you have to be a elite team or a good team that’s lucky to play in a bad division. I’m confident this year the astros will start off better than last year even though they got a tough stretch of games to start off the season. I think it can’t be overstated how much not having lance and having matsui and feliz to start off the season hurt the astros chances to begin the year well.

I’m actually excited about the season. This team is young, full of energy, and each individual player (except for maybe Carlos) is trying to prove themselves and even Carlos was making plays towards the end of last year. I have no expectations. This transition is similar to what the organization went through in the early 90’s. What we got out of that were two of the most iconic sports figures in Houston sports history. Maybe CJ turns into an all-star this season. It can happen with Castro and Wallace. We were here two seasons ago talking about it being the make or break year for Michael B. and look how he played. I think this team is actually going to be ok this year. I don’t expect them to compete for a pennant but I don’t think 81 wins is out of the questions either.

Players are who they are from the get-go in my estimation. Oh, yes, they refine their skills, but don’t very often come out of nowhere to suddenly be successful. I can’t remember seeing anyone other than maybe Biggio get much better as they go. However, I have seen players decline as they go.

The pessimist in me says that Wallace and Castro will continue to struggle at the plate because not many “flashes” of potential came through last year. Yes, Wallace launched a memorable bomb in Chicago and Castro’s and Wallace’s swings are generally beautiful. But the results were brutal.

As for Johnson, as a pessimist, he looks like a guy who could fall off the charts. He has an awkward swing and appears as a player who pitchers will totally figure out. But last spring training, when he hit the ball, it had a different sound — like the sound when really good hitters connect. He hit 8 HRs in the spring and put it all together in the regular season as it progressed.

I’m hoping the pessimist in me is all wrong and that these three players step it up. And, I’m wishing that Pence’s raw power starts emerging more often. I’ve said many times that he should be a 35-HR guy, not 25, and maybe if he didn’t choke up like a Little Leaguer, he’d accomplish this. Stay within the strike zone and start launching more HRs. He has it in him. He’s a strong dude!

Hopefully Bourn drops down plenty of bunts and hits the ball the other way as we’ve seen him do and he develops as a legit leadoff guy. Let’s face it: when he led off by getting on base, very often he’d score.

And, finally, let’s hope Happ and Norris have big years and continue to develop.

It should be a fun, if not somewhat frustrating season. See, there’s the pessimist in me again!

I’m going to Spring Training as usual this year but will not pay face value for any ticket in Minute Maid Park this year. If I’m going to watch a young team mature and have an owner who is holding the line on payroll then I’m not about to spend hard earned dollars to support that type of a program. Why should any fan have to pay top dollar under the current circumstances. Some type of discount or ticket and concession price reductions might put fans in seats that will be empty by the 4th of July.

I hate when people say, over and over, that they are done with {TEAM X} until {condition #1} and {condition #2} (repeat ad nauseum) are met to their satisfaction. Just shut up and watch the kids grow, or go away. Baseball is beautiful, stop making it a beating.

You build from within. Stamp it on Wade’s forehead…Let’s hope this is 1991 all over again, with 15 years of good baseball to follow until they started giving away all the prospects for Randy Johnson, Carlos Beltran, etc., kept Hidalgo instead of Abreu, and more etc.

I like Brett Wallace, unfortunately he’s a baseball clone of Jason Lane. Ed Wade has done nothing, absolutelty nothing this off-season. Signing players to complete the (60) man roster does’nt count. Its a rebuilding process, we get it. We get it…..that free-agency does’nt win championships. We have’nt forgotten that Berkman and Oswalt were traded. A 30 million dollar pay-roll cut and “peanuts” in return. I get it alright. Mclane is’nt motivated to do anything, he’s selling the team. The less he does, the more he pockets!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I agreee with JAHNKE. If I hear one more person, make a comment about how bad the Astros GM is, and how bad the owner is, I am going to stop reading this site, it is ridiculous. “If they don’t go, then I am not an Astros fan.” That’s right you are not an Astros fan. No Astros fan EVER, EVER, EVER stops rooting for them…. So you were really not an Astros fan to begin with.

So “real” Astros fans can’t make any judgement calls on the team? What do you think we are, a bunch of zombified Democrats? You’d have us put lipstick on a pig and tell us we have pitching to compete for a pennant??? This is another very mediocre team that is very expensive to cheer for; ie parking, beer, etc, etc. I’m a lifelong Astros fan, ever since the Toy Cannon lit up the old scoreboards in the Astrodome. But this team will struggle to play .500 ball again this year. Go Astros! Come on 2012…

I think the key to the season is Carlos Lee. Last year he was arguably the least-valuable position player in MLB (factoring in his contract). If he bounces back – a big if – to 30 HR power and a .300 avg with decent OBP, then the Astros have at least some middle of the lineup thump. Starters should be decent. Bullpen should be ok\mediocre. Middle of the lineup worries me – and Bill Hall is no middle of the lineup hitter – OBP is way too low and Strikeouts are way too high. CArlos is the key. If he bounces back, the AStros can be competitive and can shoot for .500 – which would be a great season, all things considered. I still have hope – but a realistic hope – that losing is probable, and that’s ok, now that we are headed in the right direction.

Wallace and Castro will hit no more than .450 between them this year, enough to show they are not ready for prime time. The key will be other young players getting to the big leagues and showing they are ready. As long as we have a pipeline of good players, the holes will be filled in time.

This year will be a transition year, but I hope the Astros do not go too long with players underperforming before they give others a chance. Chris Johnson is a good example of a player who was given chances, sent down when he did not perform, but who finally showed he is ready for prime time.

So are you going to figuratively kill the messenger (Richard Justice) just because a few Astro naysayers posts on Sportsjustice?? Don’t take it out on Mr. Justice. He deserves much better. Continue to read Sportsjustice no matter what.

We have obviously made some big mistakes over the last few years, and the front office has made a lot of unpopular decisions. This year is different though. We actually get to watch a bunch of young guys come in and play. We don’t have to watch the players that are at the end of rope trying to grasp on for a few more years. This time is a complete wild card. Young teams sometimes can get on a roll and build enough confidence in one another to actually make them a little bit better as team then what they are individually. I dont expect an amazing year, but it will be nice to watch players that are actually trying to get better. We will see where that takes us. Either way by the end of the year we will know what players will be keepers, and what players we will move on from.